67 Days to Go: Lisa's Donation

Today's offering came my way from Lisa in AZ!  I loved the card she sent too!!

She sent this lovely piece...

Hello Marisa,

I've been following your blog for about a year now.  I love it - you are so creative!  I look forward to seeing how you can transform a dated or unattractive garment into something very stylish.  The striped dress is from a thrift store - got it for 25 cents!

This white plastic-y, leather looking belt wasn't working for me and the dress as a whole was feeling just a bit frumpy.  However, with some small changes, this is going to be looking faboosh!!

These very small shoulder pads got removed first.  I don't really understand why they were there in the first place just because they were so thin!!

Originally if you had asked my thoughts on the collar, I would have said that it was going to be the first thing to go!!   It's funny how my thought process changes along the way, because I opted to keep the collar intact and remove the sleeves!

I pinned the sleeves and also pinned the body a little over an inch on each side to make the piece a little slimmer.

I sewed everything up, added a light, springy green camisole underneath, a woven Free People belt I snagged on sale in December and my vintage Candies for good measure!!

I love the color combo here and think I'm going to have to try and make a few of these myself!!

It was the last night our college pal NC was in town, so we got together for some fun outdoor tapas action!!

I have to say, I passed on the below hot eats...

...in lieu of this cold deliciousness.

I had a salad instead, even though it all looked so yummy.  It was such a fun way to celebrate NC's last day in town!

I was super  comfy in my flowy, cotton dress too.  Still hot, but

68 Days to Go: $1 Remake

So...the before photo that I thought was taken for this dress was in fact...well...not taken.  Apologies, apologies my friends!!  Je m'excuse!  I did find a virtually identical dress though...

Same ties, same pleats, same length, same arms, but different fabric.  Just take the shape/size and pretend these lovely polka dots cover it.  Oh, and make sure you include that spot too, because that was one of many that were found on the dress!!

I was ready to turn it into something fab, especially with that pleated skirt!!

I started off with lots of cutting!  First with the sleeves... (where the maje spottage was)

Next with the length...

I pinned the raw edges and prepped them for some elastic to get put inside!  Stretchy short sleeves for today!

I stitched up the arms and added my elastic...

...and then stitched the elastic ends together before closing up the seam!

The body was a bit big on me too, so I took in about an inch on each side to make the top nice and fit!  I kept the ties intact because at some point I'll totally tie them into a bow at the neck...

... but for today's super hot purposes I didn't want to promote the neck sweat!

This was a most comfortable thing to wear during a So Cal heat wave!!  I even went as far as sitting in the shaded grassy area of my lawn because the sprinklers just went off!

Ain't gonna lie...I kneeled and embraced the damp blades on my shins just because it was that hot out.  I mean...the lengths I'll go with an apartment sans AC.

Hope everyone stayed cool this weekend!!

69 Days to Go: Diane's NDAD Creation

It was meant to be, featuring Diane's remake today. Here's why... A - I was talking about Las Vegas with some friends this weekend where the Luxor came up in conversation.

B, I jetted past a Chevron selling $20 Egyptian cotton 800-1200 thread count sheets (yes, at a gas station - anyone else privy to this phenomenon?)

So, as you will shortly see, Diane's dress was somehow planting these subliminal messages to be used this weekend :)

I cracked up when I saw this $2.00 Egyptian print dress in the thrift store and after reading your blog I knew that I could make it cute with a few revisions!

See what I mean?!?

So I bought the dress from the astonished clerk (who thought no one would ever buy it), took it home and started cutting!

I removed the sleeves, adjusted the seams to make the dress fit more flattering, cut off 11 inches from the bottom, and finished the hem.  I styled it with my black scarf as a belt and will wear it with a black shrug (if it's too cool out) and with my gold sandals, of course!

Cute summery dress D!  Would love to see a pic of your wearing it!!  PS, the use of your sequined scarf-as-belt rules.  Way to go!!